Jay Shafer of the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company gives us a tour of his 89-square-foot home on wheels parked in Sebastapol, California.

“People are living in 4,000 – 6,000 sq ft debtor prisons and they spend 30 years or more paying off for more space and stuff than they really need.” says Jay as he shows us his cozy, well designed and organized domain.

Many Americans have combined closet space larger than the size of his whole house. At long last, the tide is turning and we are beginning to question established norms of how much we think we need. New architecture is beginning to reflect our need to spend less, to heat less, to own less stuff.

“The Tiny House movement is not a fad — McMansions were a fad. That is the thing that came and is now leaving” says Michael Jansen of the Tiny House Design Blog, and that certainly makes sense.

The trend in building was toward bigger for 50 years running. Now it’s toward smaller and smaller…

–Bibi Farber

PS. Jay is a Tiny House builder and he sells plans for the Epu model for $859. Ready made: $45,997 Build it yourself: $19,950.